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Authority: Who Determines Right and Wrong?

Guest Speaker | October 18, 2015

How do we determine the direction for our morality, deciding what is right or wrong? John Stonestreet of the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview joins us at Saddleback Church, bringing his insight into The Great Questions of Life series. In this message, John addresses how to determine what is right or wrong in a society with numerous competing voices of authority. He breaks down the Bible into four chapters — creation, fall, redemption, and restoration — demonstrating how God’s authority, not our own, provides a more accurate compass to guide our moral values.

Message Action Plan

Dear Saddleback Family, 

Use the Message Action Plan below to help put the things you learned this weekend into practice. If you missed last weekend's message, click here to watch it online.

Authority: Who determines Right and Wrong?  
The Great Questions of Life - PART 4
(17-18 October 2015)

"He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8(ESV)

WHY THESE GREAT QUESTIONS REALLY MATTER

  1. They shape how we live
  2. They are unavoidable
  3. They are connected

"The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life, but that it bothers him less and less."  Vaclav Havel

GOD'S AUTHORITY THROUGHOUT THE BIBLICAL STORY

  1. Chapter One:  Creation

    Do we look upward?       OR            Do we look  inward? 

Either there is a fixed moral reference point outside of ourselves, or everyone determines right and wrong on their own.

Action Plan: Reflect on the reality that God is outside the Universe and is not bound to its limitations. (Genesis 1-2, Psalm 24, Psalm 47)

  1. Chapter Two:  The Fall

    The idea of sin                     OR            The idea of moral evolution
  2. Chapter Three:  Redemption

    Will we substitute His obedience for our disobedience (2 Corinthians 5:21) OR Will we substitute tolerance for truth and autonomy for freedom?
  3. Chapter Four:  Restoration

The reconciled become reconcilers (2 Corinthians 5:17-19)

Action Plan: During your day, thank God for reconciling you and placing Jesus in authority over all.  Ask God to use you to bring someone to faith in Christ.

KNOWING GOD'S IN CHARGE VS. LIVING LIKE IT

  1. God's gift of repentance
  2. Guard your loves
  3. Immersion in the scriptures

Action Plan: Install a free Bible verse memory tool (such as FighterVerse) on your portable device and during your quiet time select verses to memorize that speak of God's sovereignty over difficulty.  (i.e. Romans 8:28, Psalms 127:1, Numbers 23:19)

More from this series

More from this series

The Great Questions of Life
September 27 - October 18, 2015